South Tower Column and Floor Damage

From the final NIST report:

(click to enlarge)


(click to enlarge)

Please focus on the left side of the hole, where the port wing allegedly went into the building.

Here's the really freaky thing: the hole for where the engine went in is much SMALLER than the two large holes where the wing just distal to the engine went in. It's a little hard to understand that. Moreover, it is hard to understand why the engine hole is clogged with debris but at least one wing hole is clear.

An important point to consider here is that the vertical columns of the south tower wall where the plane officially struck were large and very strong load-bearing columns. They were square box columns, 14 inches on each side, with two sides of 1/4 inch steel and two sides 13/16 inch steel. To break a column would require shearing the equivalent of one column 2 inches thick by one foot deep of solid steel. That is massively strong steel. There is NO WAY any part of an aluminum plane wing is going to cut through or even break this column. It simply ain't gonna happen, no matter how fast the wing is going, because thick steel will beat thin, light-weight aluminum wing sections every time. Think of a 2 inch by 12 inch thick steel rod going 500 mph and impacting a plane wing. Is there ANY DOUBT the wing will be torn in pieces?

Now, please note in the top diagram where the outer section of wing (distal to the engine) allegedly pushed aside and broke off sections of the columns. This can be observed for columns 429-434 as labeled in the figure. Allegedly, the wing pushing against the column sections could have caused the columns to bend and snap off in the middle and also break at the base, where they were held by bolts to the next column section.

Here's another freaky thing-- this outer wing section pushed aside the columns and the floor spandrel plate AS WELL AS DEMOLISHED THE CONCRETE SLAB BEHIND IT, as you can see from the dark space where the floor slab should be (in the photo).

THAT makes no sense.

I don't know what hit the tower. Certainly, whatever hit the tower produced an outline very similar to a 767 profile, and if we assume the hole was faked somehow, they did a damn good job in this regard. However, I am highly skeptical that the outer section of a jet wing, even a wing as large as from a 767, is capable of breaking down HEAVY steel columns and PULVERIZING concrete. Aluminum wings should have broken off. Bombs on the other hand can break down heavy steel columns and pulverize concrete.

Yes, NIST claims that the wing fuel tanks gave the wings extra penetrating power. However, I am skeptical of their modeling. Significantly, the wing impact modeling that NIST performed does not represent a case of pushing aside of sections of columns as I describe above, does not address impacting the concrete floor slab, and thus appears irrelevant the the actual damage that was seen with the south tower.